The Encounter at the Centro Palatino in Rome

First and foremost, this documentary recounts an encounter in Rome with the great Russian director, invited to the Centro Palatino to submit to the “game of truth.” In particular, the encounter with Andrey Tarkovsky, director of Nostalghia, transformed into a fascinating and lengthy lesson in cinema.

The Crisis of Cinema According to Tarkovsky

For the director, cinema is in crisis because it has for too long followed, for profit, the taste of the public. Furthermore, Tarkovsky explained: “Directors are divided into two categories: those who attempt to recreate the world in which they operate and those who create their own world and who are therefore poets.

The Masters of Poetic Cinema

To this latter category, according to Tarkovsky, belong Bresson, Dovzhenko, Mizoguchi, Bergman, Buñuel, Kurosawa, and Antonioni. Consequently, it is precisely the cinema of these auteurs, who have always refused to follow public taste, that suffers most from the consequences of the current crisis.

The Director’s Secret

Finally, Tarkovsky concluded by revealing a secret of his: before beginning a new film, he always rewatches the works of colleagues he admires. Not to copy them, obviously, but because they encourage him not to yield to public taste.